An odd beginning

Since I've been participating in the Book Beginnings on Fridays, I've become more aware of my reactions to the various beginnings.  This beginning of an excerpt really grabbed me.

The American Friends Service Committee sponsored a die-in at Chicago's Federal Plaza
on Sept. 21, 2007, to draw attention to the Iraqi victims of the Iraq War.

THE ART OF DYING

I have been dead for a long time when I finally catch the delicate scent of my carnation – just a trace, just for a second. A pigeon coos as it struts along the edge of my sheet. Then a little girl – one of the children of the temporarily dead – starts giggling about something. Her clicking shoes skip through the odd labyrinth of flower-adorned bodies.

I'm not sure why I came to this demonstration.  I need to go grocery shopping and I have stacks of papers to grade.  What motivated me?  Guilt?  Yes, partly.  The belief I'm making a difference?  No.  I don't think so.  The hope that this theater of the absurd will help alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people?  No, not really.  It's less noble, less clear.  I'm just trying to learn how to believe in something, how to see in the dark.

From Cabin Fever: A Suburban Father's Search for the Wild ~ by Tom Montgomery Fate, 2011.  (I found this excerpt on p. 42 of the July 2011 issue of Sojourners magazine.)

Beginning ~ in the Bronx in 1953

 

Sacred Time ~ by Ursula Hegi, 2003, fiction (New York)

"That winter of 1953, stenciled glass-wax decorations appeared on nearly every window in the Bronx, and Uncle Malcolm was sent to jail for stealing stamps and office equipment from his last new job."

Not terribly exciting.  I considered adding the first line of the other half of Book One, but it was less appealing.  Book One has two parts, Anthony (above) and Leonora in the 1950s; Book Two has Floria and Belinda in the 1970s; Book Three has Floria and Anthony in the 2000s.

Summary:  "This is the story of a troubled Italian-American family living in the Bronx. Anthony Amedeo is a lonely 7-year-old boy who must share a bedroom with his twin cousins Belinda and Bianca, after their father goes to jail for theft. One night in 1953, Anthony commits an unthinkable act that will haunt him and his family for 50 years, over the course of three generations."

The summary makes it sound more interesting, so I started reading this novel last night.  I'll let you know what I think about it.

If you want to play along, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Share the first sentence or two of the book you are reading. (Sometimes it takes several sentences to get the full thought.) Then, share your impressions of that beginning.  Click this link to see what others say about the books they are reading this week.

BTT (#7) ~ dog days

"Since my dog is turning 10 today ... what animal-related books have you read?  Which do you love?  Do you have a favorite literary dog?  (Snoopy, anyone?)"

First, my favorite litarary dog.  Yes, of course, it's Snoopy.  How did you guess?

You've gotta love a wordsmith who can write in difficult places, like while balancing a typewriter on top of his doghouse. Ah, yes, Snoopy's my hero. And such imagination!






He's a World War I flying ace.




He's Joe Cool, a musician.









And he dances joyfully!

He's a scoutmaster

... and a reader.








Schulz summed up Snoopy's character in a 1997 interview: "He has to retreat into his fanciful world in order to survive. Otherwise, he leads kind of a dull, miserable life. I don't envy dogs the lives they have to live."

Snoopy understands what it's like to be a freelance writer. If you want to read the full text of his novel, click here.  To read more of his exploits, click here.

Now back to the first question.  I once participated in a reading challenge (the Four-Legged Friends challenge) that required us to " Read books that have an animal as the main character or an animal who plays an important enough role that you remember it afterwards."  We were also to write about our pets in our introductory post.  I, being an over-achiever, wrote about one pet in each of my five posts:

1. Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog ~ by Ted Kerasote ~ dedicated the memory of Pippa
2. The Fur Person ~ by May Sarton ~ dedicated to the memory of Jack
3. Cat's Eyewitness ~ by Rita Mae Brown and her cat Sneaky Pie Brown ~ dedicated to Kiki
4. Goldie (The Puppy Place Series #1) ~ by Ellen Miles ~ dedicated to the memory of Herman
5. Sign-up post for the Four-Legged Friends challenge ~ dedicated to the memory of Duchess

The most recent book I've read that involved a memorable dog was Pocketful of Names by Joe Coomer.  The dog arrives on the tide coming in to an island off the coast of Maine.

However, the very best book I've ever read about an animal was The Art of Racing in the Rain, a 2008 novel by Garth Stein.  Enzo, the dog on the cover, is a great dog, who happens to be an excellent philosopher.  I rate the book 10 out of 10.

ADDITIONS:  Hmm, as I keep thinking (will I be doing this all day?), I remember Aesop's Fables with wise and foolish animals, Animal Farm and the animal takeover, Black Beauty that I loved as a child, and of course all those friends of Mother Goose, like the three bears, the three pigs, and the three blind mice. And Kiki and I both read Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron.

Books I completed in June

Here are three of my girls earlier this week.  My great-granddaughter Raegan, age 2, is reading a Dr. Seuss book.  (How many of you can identify the book?  Click on the photo to enlarge it.  Ready, set, go!)  My granddaughter Cady, age 11, is holding a couple of books she had read to Raegan a few minutes earlier — a photo of Cady reading three years ago accompanies one of her book reviews for this blog.  My granddaughter Cali, age 24 as of Tuesday, has a book at her left elbow that I gave her for her birthday — Cali's degree is in English literature.

A photo of Raegan reading is at the top of my list of books I've read this year, updated book by book.  And as you can see, Raegan is still reading.  We are a bookish family.

Now, without further ado, here are the books I read during June.  Notice I completed 120 books in six months, averaging 20 a month.  That makes 240 for the year a real possibility.

JUNE

100.  Once Upon a Time There Was You ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 2011, fiction, 8/10
101.  Caleb's Crossing ~ by Geraldine Brooks, 2011, fiction (Massachusetts), 9/10
102.  Not My Daughter ~ by Barbara Delinsky, 2010, fiction (Maine), 9/10
103.  Clara and Mr. Tiffany ~ by Susan Vreeland, 2001, fiction (New York), 8/10
104.  Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise ~ by Ruth Reichl, 2005, memoir (New York), 8/10
105.  A Place to Pray: Reflections on the Lord's Prayer ~ by Roberta C. Bondi, 1998, religion, 9/10
106.  Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty ~ by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke, 2010, graphic novel (Illinois),  8/10
107.  The Bird Sisters ~ by Rebecca Rasmussen, 2011, fiction (Wisconsin), 7/10
108.  The Coming Global Superstorm ~ by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, 2000, science, 9/10
109.  Mother Nature's Greatest Hits: The Top 40 Wonders of the Animal World ~ by Bartleby Nash, 1991, science, 8/10
110.  Bird ~ by Zetta Elliott, illustrated by Shadra Strickland, 2008, children's, 9/10
111. Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace ~ by Jen Cullerton Johnson, illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler, 2010, biography of Wangari Maathai (Kenya), 9/10
112.  The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible ~ by A. J. Jacobs, 2007, memoir/religion, 9/10
113.  The Year of Magical Thinking ~ by Joan Didion, 2005, memoir, 8/10
114.  Go and Come Back ~ by Joan Abelove, 1998, fiction (Peru), 9/10
115.  The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University ~ by Kevin Roose, 2009, memoir (Virginia), 9/10
116.  75 Years: A History of East Lake United Methodist Church 1908-1983 ~ by Bonnie Setliffe Jacobs, 1983, history, 5/10
117.  Animals Are the Funniest People ~ by Professor Percy Niwrad, 1976, humor, 6/10
118.  The English Teacher ~ by Lily King, 2005, fiction (Maine), 9.5/10
119.  The Faded Flower ~ by Paul McCusker, 2001, fiction (Pennsylvania), 8/10
120.  Wild Words from Wild Women: An Unbridled Collection of Candid Observations and Extremely Opinionated Bon Mots ~ compiled by Autumn Stephens, 1993, 1996, women's studies, 8/10

June favorite (#118)

8 fiction
1 children's
1 graphic novels
1 history
1 humor
5 memoir / biography
1 religion
2 science
1 women's studies
_______________
Total = 21

Library Loot ~ July 6-12

In the Bleak Midwinter ~ by Julia Spencer-Fleming, 2002, mystery (New York), 10/10

Summary:  "Clare Fergusson, St. Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Miller's Kill, New York. She is not just a 'lady,' she's a tough ex-Army chopper pilot, and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown. Their search for the baby's mother quickly leads them into the secrets that shadow Miller's Kill like the ever-present Adirondacks. What they discover is a world of trouble, an attraction to each other, and murder."

This author's writing is fun to read.  The woman arrives in upper New York State with a sporty little car that worked well down south, where she's from.  But pastors have to do lots of visiting here and there among church members, and Miller's Kill (a "kill" is a stream) is a snowy place.  To give you an idea, here's some dialogue (page 115) after Russ comes along and "rescues" Clare by shoving her car into the police lot over a bump caused by two inches of snow (yes, two INCHES of snow).  I love it.

"That is an embarrassingly small amount of snow to get stuck in, isn't it?"

"You need something heavy, with front-wheel-drive," Russ said, opening the door to his cruiser.  "Four-wheel-drive is better.  Until you get that, load up the trunk with bags of kitty litter.  It'll give some weight to your rear and if you get stuck, you can always sprinkle some around for traction."

"Great.  I can see it now.  I'll get my car free just in time to run over some old lady's cat who's come to investigate."

I don't usually read mysteries, so I was quite surprised at how much fun it was to read straight through it.  I rate this book 10/10 because I couldn't put it down.

Pocketful of Names ~ by Joe Coomer, 2005, fiction (Maine), 8/10

Summary:  "Inhabiting an island off the coast of Maine left to her by her great-uncle Arno, Hannah finds her life as a dedicated and solitary artist rudely interrupted one summer when a dog, matted with feathers and seaweed, arrives with the tide. He is only the first of a series of unexpected visitors and is soon followed by a teenager running from an abusive father, a half sister in trouble, a mainland family, and a forlorn trapped whale. In the engrossing drama that unfolds, Hannah's love of her island solitude competes with her instinctive compassion for others."

My library copy had a different cover, but the dog is such an integral part of the story that I chose to share this paperback version.  Enlarge the cover to see how wet the dog is.  Until nearly the end, I had this book pegged as either a 9 or a 10, but it finally got so convoluted that I settled on a rating of 8 out of 10, a very good book.

Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  Claire has the Mister Linky this week, if you'd like to share a list of the loot you brought home.  You may submit your list any time during the week.

Today is special

My granddaughter Cali and I enjoy having Japanese food together.  This photo shows us at Raegan's second birthday party in May, but today is Cali's birthday.  She's my second grandchild and first granddaughter.  Even though I saw Cali yesterday, I want to say on my blog:  Happy 24th birthday, Cali!

Beginning ~ at the speed of life

The Year of Magical Thinking ~ by Joan Didion, 2005, memoir, 8/10

Life changes fast.
Life changes in the instant.
You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.
The question of self-pity.

I like this beginning, which she repeats several times in various chapters.  It's true that we never know from moment to moment what may happen to us.  For example, my 45-year-old father died in a traffic accident on the first night of a new job delivering mail from city to city — he and the driver of the 18-wheeler got only two blocks (and were thus still in Chattanooga) before a car crashed into them from a side street.

The timing may have been right for me, just after the death of my former husband, and I read right through this book.  Didion's situation was different, of course, and I didn't need "magical thinking" to survive the year afterwards — or in my case, two or three weeks so far.  But I could relate.

Rated:  8 of 10, a good book.

If you want to play along, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Share the first sentence or two of the book you are reading. (Sometimes it takes several sentences to get the full thought.) Then, share your impressions of that beginning.  Click this link to see what others say about the books they are reading this week.